Gion wanted Arton to join the Marines so badly that, even before she knew much about him, she had been willing to use her own body to tempt him into joining, all to make sure he could smoothly become one of them.
If even Gion was willing to go that far, Uta figured many of the other women who possessed copies of the Sea Diary were probably much the same.
Even if it was only for the sake of gaining strength, they likely would not care too much that Arton had used them as models for erotic derivative works.
Perhaps many of them would tell themselves that, in the end, those works were nothing more than Arton's fantasies. Besides, the characters in his derivative works still existed only as drawings, while they themselves were living people in this world. There were ultimately plenty of differences between the two.
Because of that, they could probably persuade themselves deep down not to blame Arton—or at the very least, not to blame him too much.
After all, if they resented Arton excessively, how would they then convince themselves to invite him over to their side as a companion?
Uta simply did not believe that anyone who possessed a copy of the Sea Diary could witness the capabilities of Arton's system and still reject him.
Especially now that Arton had already shown the world so much of what he was capable of.
If anyone still believed Arton was unworthy of becoming their companion, Uta would probably wonder whether that person was an idiot.
Then again, there were probably still fools in this world who would continue pushing Arton toward the opposing side.
Anyone with even a little intelligence should be able to recognize Arton's potential value.
Kalifa was a perfect example.
Why would Kalifa willingly strike all those seductive poses even while clearly knowing Arton's lens was pointed at her?
Wasn't it precisely because Kalifa was intelligent enough to understand Arton's value?
As for the possibility that Kalifa had no idea Arton was photographing her, Uta refused to believe it.
If Kalifa truly had not known, why would she spend so long posing seductively in front of Arton? Wasn't it because Arton had kept his Sea Diary System's lens trained on her, giving her enough reason to cast aside her embarrassment and deliberately pose before him in full view of all the other Sea Diary holders?
A woman capable of becoming a World Government agent was hardly naive enough to think that, aside from Arton, no one else could see her posing like that.
Even so, Uta believed Kalifa had probably confirmed that, aside from Arton, no other man would be able to see her.
The other holders of Sea Diary copies had to be women.
That was precisely why Kalifa could afford to be so bold.
If other men could see those images too, Kalifa would undoubtedly have restrained herself much more. Even if she wanted Arton to see her like that, she would have saved it for when the two of them were alone.
Uta felt the same way. Right now, the only man she was willing to let see her body was Arton.
No other man could even dream of receiving that kind of treatment.
In short, Uta did not believe any Sea Diary holder would refuse to let Arton become her companion simply because he had once used her—including Uta herself—as a model for erotic derivative works.
As long as they had no way to take Arton's system for themselves, most Sea Diary holders would probably try to invite him to their side through relatively peaceful means.
Anyone who did not think that way could only be an outright fool.
…
Chapter 917: Uta Doesn't Want Something Like That to Happen
If such an idiot really existed, Uta honestly wanted to see one for herself.
At the very least, she did not think ordinary people on the seas—or even most pirates—would be that foolish.
Within the World Government, however, Uta believed there was at least a small chance such people existed.
She did not particularly want to think that way, but there was no helping it. The World Government's agents were simply too strange.
Some of them might genuinely have been brainwashed by the World Government to the point of developing blind loyalty toward it.
Someone like that might truly disregard all the benefits Arton's Sea Diary could bring them and refuse to make any attempt to approach him.
Fortunately, although Kalifa was an agent of the World Government, she did not seem to be that kind of person.
Kalifa was not someone who had been brainwashed into blind loyalty to the World Government. Instead, she was someone capable of bringing Arton happiness and pleasurable experiences.
On that point alone, Uta was quite satisfied with her.
If Kalifa was clearly one of the characters Arton had used in his derivative works, yet could not recreate for him the kinds of scenes depicted in those works, Uta would find that rather sad.
After all, Arton clearly liked Kalifa. If he did not like her that much, why would he mention her so often in the Sea Diary?
Judging from what had just happened, the fact that Arton had taken so many photos of Kalifa was proof enough that he liked her.
Thinking about Kalifa made Uta gradually understand why Arton had previously managed to take so many close-up photos of her.
Kalifa had been doing it deliberately.
If it had been Uta and the others, they probably would have interpreted such behavior as a way of steering Arton away from continuing to use the Sea Diary.
After all, Arton sometimes revealed through the Sea Diary where he intended to go next.
If information like that happened to reach an enemy, things could become disastrous. Their enemies could simply bring an entire fleet and wait for them at the destination.
No matter how one looked at it, that would put Arton's crew at a severe disadvantage.
But when Kalifa faced Arton's lens earlier, the circumstances had been completely different.
At that moment, she did not need to resort to such tactics to stop Arton from revealing his destination, because Arton had never intended to disclose one in the first place.
The situation Kalifa faced was probably one where she wanted to attract Arton as much as possible—whether to convince him that she was trustworthy or to obtain large quantities of points from him that she could use to make herself stronger.
Uta guessed that Kalifa felt she had met Arton much later than the other members of his pirate crew.
Because of that, Kalifa likely wanted Arton to take large numbers of photos of her so she could earn a great many points and catch up.
Even so, Uta suspected that Kalifa herself had not expected Arton to take so many pictures all at once.
Thinking about it, however, it made sense. Arton had never taken photographs like those before, so once he finally got the opportunity, of course he would want to take plenty.
Uta even thought that someday she could find an opportunity to pose in front of Arton the same way Kalifa had.
If she did, perhaps Arton would take lots of pictures of her too.
Returning to the subject of the World Government, Uta believed that although people like Kalifa existed within it—agents who were not blindly loyal—there might still be blindly loyal individuals who also possessed copies of the Sea Diary.
If people like that truly existed, Uta would find it extremely regrettable.
Fortunately, Sea Diary holders were unable to reveal information about the Sea Diary itself to others.
That meant that even if some of them were fanatically loyal to the World Government, they still would not be able to tell high-ranking officials like the Five Elders about the Sea Diary.
...
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